1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a manipulation device for manipulating a workpiece on a bending press, comprising multiple successive moving elements in the form of articulated arms connected to one another via articulated joints, wherein one moving element has a rotary head which is rotatable about a rotational axis which at least approximately coincides with a center axis of the moving element, and comprising a gripping device connected thereto having a gripping zone, formed by one or more gripping elements, by means of which the workpiece may be held. Also described herein is a production system employing such a manipulation device.
2. Prior Art
A production system comprising a bending press, in addition to a manipulation device for positioning workpieces to be bent, is known from EP 1 503 874 B1 by the present applicant. The manipulation device is designed as a swivel-arm system, and at one end region of the swivel-arm system has a rotary device with a rotational axis perpendicular to the swivel axes of the swivel-arm system. A gripping device is provided on this rotary device for grasping workpieces to be bent on the bending press. In particular for small workpieces to which bending edges are to be applied in various directions, for a manipulation device having such a design it is necessary for the gripping device to grasp the workpiece at various gripping positions between the individual bending operations, since collisions with the bending press would otherwise be unavoidable as a result of the geometries of the swivel-arm system and the rotary device. Naturally, these regripping procedures are at the expense of productive machining time, and increase the manufacturing costs for such workpieces due to the longer time that the machines are occupied. Since for each regripping procedure there is also the risk of positioning errors, the overall workpiece precision may suffer, which may likewise adversely affect the economical use of such a manipulation device as the result of possible rejects, refinishing, or complaints.